


Deleted Scene: Nightmare Duty

by paladin_cleric_mage



Series: My Heroes Had the Heart [9]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-20 23:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16148210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paladin_cleric_mage/pseuds/paladin_cleric_mage
Summary: Early February, 1986.This scene didn't fit in the upcoming chapter.





	Deleted Scene: Nightmare Duty

Joyce wakes in the darkness to the sound of El whimpering. Swiftly she pulls Hopper’s flannel over her long nightshirt and pads down the hallway. By the time she reaches the twins room, Jonathan is already lying on El’s bed, snuggling her and listening to her whisper about what she saw. The nightlight is fixed to the on position, though it fails to prevent disrupted sleep.

Losing Nancy, followed by Hopper moving in, softened Jonathan. He is supportive, as he always was, for Will, now without carrying the stress of parental duties.  Surprisingly, he moved on quickly after the breakup, gladly transitioning back into single life-- a life that allows him to focus on what it most important to him. His family, his photography, his reading. Joyce is proud of how he’s started off his senior school year. College applications already went out, and she has no doubt he’ll be accepted to NYU.

When El finishes recounting the bad dream, Jonathan assures her it’s alright. “Just a nightmare, that’s all.”

“We don’t know that,” El frets.

“Well, if it’s still bugging you tomorrow you can poke around in the void, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now we have to go back to sleep. Don’t want to nap at school, do we?”

“No.”

Joyce waits to see if Jonathan will leave El once she drifts off. Instead he sleep, too, leaving Joyce to retreat to her room. A miracle it wasn’t Will this time. His night terrors are numerous and taxing. Of course, it’d be best if none of the kids endured flashbacks and awful dreams. At least she can rest knowing that the children they have raised take care of each other, each a miracle in their own right.


End file.
